TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fogel,Robert W.
TI  - Secular Trends in Physiological Capital: Implications for Equity in Health Care
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9771
PY  - 2003
Y2  - June 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9771
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9771.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Robert W. Fogel
Director,  Center for Population Economics
University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business
5807 S. Woodlawn Avenue, Suite 367
Chicago, IL  60637
Tel: 773/702-7709
Fax: 773/702-2901
E-Mail: rwf@cpe.uchicago.edu
AB  - Over the past three centuries there has been a rapid accumulation of physiological capital in OECD countries. Enhanced physiological capital is tied to long-term reduction in environmental hazards and to the conquest of chronic malnutrition. Data on heights and birth weights suggests that physiological capital has become more equally distributed, thereby reducing socioeconomic disparities in the burden of disease. Implications for health care policy are: (1) enhanced physiological capital has done more to reduce inequities in health status than has wider access to health care; (2) the main contribution of more advanced medical treatment so far has been to retard depreciation in individuals' physiological capital; (3) prenatal and early childhood care and environmental issues are key for interventions aimed at enhancing physiological capital and at affecting its rate of depreciation; (4) lifestyle change is the most important issue affecting health equity in rich countries; and (5) greater access to clinical care should be promoted through aggressive outreach, since expanded insurance coverage by itself is inadequate.
ER  -